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1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Portfolio

(shortened form of Porto folio, adapted from the Ital. portafogli, portare, to carry, and fogli, sheets or leaves of paper, Lat. folium, leaf), a case for keeping papers, documents, prints, maps, &c., usually a leather book-cover with a flexible back. As the official documents of a state department are in the hands of the minister of that department, the word "portfolio" is frequently used figuratively of the office itself, particularly on the continent of Europe, where the "portfolio" is the symbol of office, as, in English usage, the "seals" are for the secretaryships of state. The phrase "minister without portfolio" is applied to a member of a ministry to whom no special department is assigned.